Ask a few kindergartners what their favorite subject is at Schilling School and you’ll probably get the same answer each time — science.

“Our little 5 and 6 year olds love being able to get down on the floor to explore and experiment,” said kindergarten teacher Michele Lane. “It’s our favorite part of the day.”

Science is a recent addition to the kindergarten curriculum in Homer Community Consolidated School District 33C.

In the past, teachers focused on reading, phonics and math because that’s all they could accommodate in a half-day kindergarten program. This year, Homer 33C introduced a full-day kindergarten program, giving students and teachers time to explore science, social studies, physical education, journal writing and music/library/computer readiness — on top of reading, phonics and math.

“We know how important it is to our community that we prepare students for a globally changing world,” said Superintendent Kara Coglianese. “Our full-day kindergarten program is going to help achieve that.”

Kindergartners recently completed a unit on weather and are now focusing on the physics of Push, Pull, Go.

“It’s amazing to me to hear my students talk about ‘force,’ `observations’ and ‘predictions,’” said Lane, who had students put their “scientist glasses” on and discover what would happen when they lined a row of Dominoes up at various distances and formations.

Sometimes the Dominoes would fall over when they touched the first tile; sometimes they would not.

Next door, kindergarten teacher Jennifer VanHeest had students build miniature slides from a kit and predict how far rubber balls would travel when they were launched from the top of the slide and from the middle of the slide.

“Did the balls stop at the same point?” she asked students, after explaining how the balls are pulled down by gravity, gaining energy and speed as they travel down the slide.

“No,” they replied in unison.

“Why did the one that started on top go further?” she asked.

“It got a lot of speed,” replied a boy.

The district’s full-day kindergarten program has been a dynamic addition, enabling teachers to delve deeper into subject matter and integrate themes across the curriculum, said Kathleen Robinson, assistant superintendent for instruction.

“Providing time for our youngest learners to explore and collaborate will strengthen their ability to solve problems and communicate with their peers,” she added.